Who danced up a storm on the first Strictly Come Dancing weekend?

And so the battle on the dance floor begins – from dancing disasters to week one standing ovations – the two opening night shows for Strictly Come Dancing series 10 exploded with phenomenal entertainment.

So who caught my attention and why?

First up has to be Lisa Riley…and what a powerhouse of great Saturday night entertainment she brought to the dance floor. With others so focused on delivering a technically strong performance and allowing nerves to eat them alive, in true Mandy Dingle style she took the bull by the horns and tamed it. From dynamic music to excellent unity with Robin her professional dance partner, I’m sure they were dumfounded to find themselves at the top of the score board at the end of the night – but it was well deserved.

At the other end of the spectrum comes Jerry Hall. I guess even the armchair dancer could have guessed she would be doing a lot of posing on the night, but I am desperately hoping we are going to see an Apollo rocket programmed for galaxy ‘Hall’ in time for next week’s performance leaving us truly star struck this time – rather than sucked into a black hole!

My heart really went out to Johnny Ball who probably thought the odds were against him already, being the oldest contestant ever to take part in the show at 74, but with the sudden injury to his allocated professional partner Aliona he suddenly found himself with a posse of woman fighting over him to be his partner. It must have had him feeling 21 again. Lucky Johnny! And I think we all want to know what his secret is to delivering that fun performance for a minute and a half and not even seem out of puff at the end.

And then came the tears…I think we all felt for Victoria Pendleton who one minute was a gold medalist at the Olympics, then just a few weeks later suffered a mental meltdown as she collapsed under the pressure of delivering the Cha Cha Cha choreography.

This woman has so much potential to go all the way to winning another medal – with her leg strength offering speed that most will struggle to keep up with, and a body that to make any performance look sensational. She is going to have to rebuild her competitive wall of strength to hide behind and cross the line this time with a flawless performance. Come on Victoria you can do it!

Finally, Bond actor Colin Salmon was too cool for school and made all us women hit the bar for a martini just in the hope he would appear out of the blue. I am going to be honest I never thought a man of his stature would come out week one with so much conviction and sheer rhythm. To all you men out there – do you need any more reasons to get up and dancing than this?

What did you think of the first Strictly weekend? Let us know below.

Karen Hardy
World Masters, United Kingdom, International
And British National Champion of Latin American Dance
Carl Alan & BDF Award Winner for Services to Dance
Winner of Strictly Come Dancing Series 4
Director of the Award Winning Karen Hardy Studios
Find out more about Karen’s dance studios at www.karenhardystudios.com